Mark Mullen

Mark Mullen

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Fintech, Blockchain/Crypto, Climate Tech, Logistics, E-commerce tools

 "We like to bet on those who believe in themselves. If you've never taken a chance on yourself, at least think about it. Unless you do, you may never know what you're missing. And neither will the rest of the world."

Investments

EXITS

The Trade Desk, Edgecast, Orbitera, MessageLabs, Emailage , OpenPath, Inspire Energy, Mover, Prevoty, Bitium, Retention Science, Lettuce, Tradesy, MomentFeed, Pathmatics, Reaction Commerce, Sense360, Gradient X, EV Connect

What founders have to say

"Mark is reliable, extremely well connected, and always gives sound advice. When we lost a top customer Mark was our first call. When we were raising our Series A and getting term sheets, Mark was also our first call. Mark has made essential intros for us - to our head of Sales, two key customers, and our Series A VC. Mark has also taught us how to become good leaders and scale our company. We owe much of our success to Bonfire’s partnership with involve.ai."

Gaurav Bhattacharya, CEO & Co-Founder, Involve.ai

Bio

I have had the good fortune to have two distinct yet intersecting careers that have both molded me as a person and informed my investment style and track record.  The first 20 years of my career I was a telco, cable and tech M&A investment banker working for an incredible entrepreneur, Bill Daniels, who is also known as the Father of Cable TV in the US.  I also had the unique opportunity to live in Paris, London, New York City, Boulder, SF and LA and I have worked with uncommonly diverse entrepreneurs from numerous industries and countries.  This distinct living and work experience as a partner, M&A banker, and investor having done deals with different people and companies across 30 countries is what sets me apart from other VCs, as does my eagerness to mentor and be 100 percent available to the people I invest in.  

For the past two decades, I’ve been making seed investments in tech’s most promising B2B founders, with an emphasis on LA’s burgeoning ecosystem.  Prior to Bonfire, I founded Double M Partners and Mull Capital and managed high-growth funds focused on Internet, media, and technology, and I often co-invested with Bonfire’s co-founder Jim Andelman – the genesis of our rewarding partnership. 

In between my investment banking and VC career, I took almost two years and “gave back” as the COO of the City of Los Angeles and Senior Advisor to the then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.  In this role, I experienced firsthand the value created when there’s diversity on a team working to solve big problems – a tenant I prioritize when helping founders build winning teams and a strong company culture. 

I live in Los Angeles with my wife and two children, and I’m living my best life when spending quality time with them.

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What it's like to work with me

When I first meet or Zoom with founders, I don’t like to open the deck. I want to have a conversation and get to know you, and I typically know within the first fifteen minutes whether the rest of the meeting will be worth it from an investment perspective. It’s an instinct that has served me well.

Interesting fact

I don’t binge watch programming and I have no social media apps on my phone. They can be fun, but you don’t get that time back.

Favorites

Book: Undaunted Courage

Movie: Fletch, The Godfather

Podcast Smartless, Sway, PROOF, Conan O'Brian

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The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Press/Media

ARTICLE

Mark Mullen Ranked as Top LA VC by his Peers

BLOG

Why We Invested in Operative Intelligence

BLOG

Why We Invested in Calmwave

PODCAST

Mark Talks Seed Investing and More on Venture Unlocked Podcast

ARTICLE

Mark Mullen Ranked Top VC in LA

ARTICLE

VC Corner: Q&A with Mark Mullen

PODCAST

LA Venture: Mark Mullen on the Traction He Looks for When Doing B2B Seed Investing

PODCAST

20 Minute VC: Mark Mullen on Optimizing Decision-Making in Compressed Timelines, Portfolio Construction, Price Sensitivity and More

PODCAST

Demo Day: Mark Mullen on Founder Relationships and Investment Strategies

PODCAST

Panic with Friends: Howard Lindzon Interviews Mark Mullen on Economic Cycles

PODCAST

Moving Up: Mark Mullen - Wash Your Own Glass on Apple Podcasts